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How to Return to Office Without Painful Mandates
Forcing employees to return to the office often backfires, research shows. In this video, learn four better approaches to bringing teams together.
Return-to-office mandates are often touted as the best way to rebuild corporate culture, but they are frequently a top-down directive that in practice can have the opposite effect. Bringing teams together in person in tactical ways, though, is still important. When done right, in-office time together can strengthen team bonds and boost morale.
In this short video, MIT Sloan Management Review columnist Brian Elliott looks at four companies that have come up with creative, productive RTO alternatives that actually work:
- Zillow orchestrates hundreds of targeted, onsite, team-centered meetings.
- Airbnb centers its gatherings around product launches and milestone updates.
- Allstate builds connections among employees in regions where it doesn’t have a main office.
- Dolby carefully redesigned office space to be more collaboration-oriented.
Leaders need to be thoughtful about how they design experiences for their teams. When they exert too much control, they risk losing employees to more flexible employers. But if there’s little emphasis on in-person time, teams and individuals can feel disconnected and isolated from the rest of the company. Taking a careful look at what has worked for others can help you craft moments that matter at your own organization.